Security organization slams Kurdish party

October 24, 2007 9:00am

The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs says Turkey is justified in quashing Kurdish separatists.

In a report published on its Web site, JINSA said Turkey’s actions are justified because the Kurds are unwilling to acknowledge that the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, is a terrorist organization.

“Defenders of the PKK sound like Palestinians who don’t want to be associated with Hamas or Fatah or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, but won’t do anything about them,” the report said. “The Kurds vehemently protest that they are NOT like the Palestinians. But, sadly, now they are.”

Turkey began shelling PKK positions in the Kurdish territory of northern Iraq this week. According to some reports, Turkish troops conducted cross-border reprisals. The raids, which the United States is working to contain, are perceived in part as a response to a proposed congressional resolution recognizing the World War I massacres of Armenians as genocide.

The resolution has split the Jewish community, with some arguing that Jews are morally obliged to support recognition of another people’s genocide, while others caution of the potential damage to Turkish ties with Israel and the United States.

JINSA opposes the resolution as harmful to American security interests and has communicated that position to congressional leaders.